Dust collector or separator



Sept. 22, 1931.

J. WHITMORE DUS'ILCOLLECTOR OR SEPARATOR Filed Jan. 15, 1926 form WHITMone,

Patented Sept. 2 2, 1931 I-UNIJTED STATES PAT E-NT OFFICE JOHN WHITMORE,OF BELFAST, IRELAND, ASSIGNOR 'iO DAVIDSON & COMPANY LIMITED, OFBELFAST, IRELAND DUST COLLECTOR OR SEFARATOR Application fled Jan-nary 15, 1926, Serial No. 81,369, and in Great Britain August 14, 1925. I

This invention relates to dust collectors or separators and the likemore particularly of the kind in which a tubular outlet such as'achimney passes through or into the separating chamber and has for itsobject to provide means designed to reduce and overcome the resistanceset up by and due to the whirling body of air or gas within theapparatus in such a manner that the escape of such air or gas from theinterior of the collector may, after the dust has been separatedtherefrom, be more readily effected.

An arrangement according to my present invention comprises stationaryguide vanes arranged in the tubular outlet or chimney,

so that the body of air or gas inside the col- -lector or separatorcasing which is in a whirling or vortical condition is, by means of thesaid vanes, caused to flow in a sub stantially linear path parallel tothe axis of said outlet, with the result that the whirling motion oraction which would otherwise take place in the interior of the outlet,is entirely eliminated.

In carrying the invention into effect, the stationary guide vanes may bearranged in different ways, .and each or all of the subsequent forms orarrangements herein referred to may comprise any desired number of vaneswhich may be set-at any de sired angle with relation to the axis ofchimney or outlet from the dust collector or separator. If desired thelower edges of the vanes may be closed to the passage of air or gas in airection parallel to the axis of the outlet, or may be fully open,except for fixings, such as shallow conical rings which may be used forconstructional purposes,

with the object of allowing the air or gas to pass upwards through thechimney in the usual manner, in the event of such air or gas beingby-passed and not in a state of whirl or vortex.

Various constructional forms according to the invention will now bedescribed as exkind shown in Fig. 1, but in which the chimney extends toa certain distance through the roof of the collector and does not reachto the floor of the same;

Fig. 4 shows another modification of the arrangement shown in Fig. 1; gY Fig. 5 illustrates a set of guide vanes consisting of vanes ofdifferent lengths and having suitably curved tips.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 5 of the drawings, the form of the inventionshown herein is applicable to a chimney 1 of constant diameter or crosssection which passes vertically through the collector or separatorcasing 2, the vertically disposed inlet wand 7 outlet from the chimneybeing indicated at 1A and 1B respectively. The apparatus according tothe present invention consists of a number of radially disposed vanes 3arranged at an angle with respect to the vertical central line of thechimney indicated by the dotted line 4, the vanes projectingsimultaneously in an outward direction as shown, and having their outertips 5 curved in such a manner and at such an angle as F-l to cause thewhirling air to fiow over the surface of the same and its direction offlow to be changed from a rotary motion to a linear motion (Fig. 5).

According to the arrangement described 55 above, the form of the vanesurfaces as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 is rectilinear whenexpanded, and as the said vanes 3 are arranged at at angle to thevertical axis 4 of the chimney their upper edges will projectsomedistance beyond the exterior of the chimney 1 or outlet from theseparator or collector, except in the construction illustrated in Fig.4. The said upper edges of the vanes which thus project are covered by atruncated conical member (3,the conical part of which is .firmly securedto the upper edges of the vanes and the vertical part to the wall of thechimney 1. In order to render the structure still more rigid and robustthe lower edges of the vanes 3 may be secured at their outer ends alsoto the wall of the chimney 1 by means of a truncated conical member 7 asclearly shown in Fig. 1. In addition, a shallow truncated conical member8 having a considerably smaller diameter than the member 7 may besecured to the undersides of the vanes 3 to further strengthen thestructure.

In operation the dust-laden gas or air admitted at high velocity throughthe tangential inlet 16 of the collector or separator casing 2 moveswith a whirling motion round the exterior of the chimney 1 thuseffecting the separation of the dust and grit from the said gas or air.As the solid particles are separated by the actionl of centrifugal forcethe purified gas whirling round the chimney l is engaged by the curvedtips 5 of the vanes 3 and is thereby caused to flow through an outletfrom the separator casing 2 constituted by the openings between theouter ends of the vanes 3, as indicated at 17 in Figures 1 to 4. Thencethe purified gas passes along the surface of the vanes and up thechimney 1 in a substantially linear direction.

In the modification shown in Fig. 2the same form of guide vanes may beemployed as is illustrated in Fig. 1, but instead of the diameter of thechimney 1 being constant throughout the vertical depth of the dustcollector or separator casing 2, the portion 9 of the chimney arrangedbelow the guide vanes has a somewhat smaller diameter than the part 10above the guide vanes.

In this construction it will be seen that the lower edges of the guidevanes 3 project somewhat beyond the wall of the lower part 9 of thechimney. The said projecting part of the lower edges may in this case besuitably secured together by means of a shallow truncated conical member11.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 3 the chimney 1 extends downwardsthrough the top of the casing 2 and terminates in an open lower end at adistance from the floor of the casing about equal to half the height ofthe said casing. In this arrangement the vanes 3 are secured to thelower end of the chimney 1 entirely by means of the "truncated member 6,while the truncated conical members? and '8 are utilized merely for theto the chimney 1 may remain constituted by the openings 17 between'theouter ends of the vanes, as in the constructions shown in Figures 1 and2.

Referring to Fig: 4 the arrangement shown therein is a modification ofthat shown in Fig. 1, but .in this case the upper edges of the vanes 3do not pass beyond the wall of the chimney 1, and are therefore securedat their outer ends by means of a flanged conical member 12 speciallyformed so as to enable the said upper edges to be firmly secured to thewall of the chimney 1. The securing members 7 and 8 on the undersides ofthe vanes may be secured and function in a manner similar to thecorresponding members shown in Fig. 1. I

Referring again to Fig. 5, a set of vane is illustrated herein,consisting of alternating long and short vanes 13 and 14, the curvedouter ends of all the vanes being similarly formed and functioning asdescribed above; the inner ends may be firmly secured to the truncatedconical member 8, for the sake of mechanical stiffness and strength. Ifdesired the whole vane system may be cast in one piece and thus form ahomogeneous entity, composed of the parts 3, 6, 7, 8, as shown in Fig.1, and 13 and 14 in Fig. 5. Any desired number of short vanes may bearranged between each pair of long vanes, and it is not necessary thatall the short vanes should extend inwards for the same distance towardsthe centre, but some may be considerably longer than others according tocircumstances.

In all of the arrangements described above the truncated conical memberssecuring the assemblage of vanes may be constructed in such a manner asto permit of the gas or air being by-passed direct from the flue throughthe chimney or from the interior of the dust collector br separatorthrough the chimney or outlet from the collector, in which 'case thesaid gas or air would not be in a state of whirl and consequently thesaid vanes would not be required to rectify the gaseous current.

In the following claims the term gas is to be understood as includingair, vapor, and fluid currents such as smoke consisting of a mixture ofgas or vapor and solid particles. By converting the direction of the airwithout turbulence I am enabled to seabruptly, in an improper manner,turbulence will be set up. This results not only in imperfect operationof devices of this class, but also in excessive use of power for theperformance of the given task as the presence of shock and turbulence inthe air stream requires power to overcome this resistance, set up by theturbulence.

WVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In dustcollectors, separators and the like, the combination with a chimney ofconstant cross section passing through the casing of the apparatus, of anumber of pyramidally disposed vanes therein, the upper edges of thevanes projecting beyond the wall of the chimney on the outside thereofand a truncated conical member securing the said upper edges of thevanes to the wall stant cross section passing through the casingof theapparatus, of a number of pyram- ,idally disposed vanes therein, and atrun- 6. In dust collectors, separators and the like, the combinationwith a vortex chamber of a tangential inlet for the dust laden gas, 'anumber of pyramidally-disposed guide vanes arranged in an outletsubstantially in the same plane as the inlet, the outer peripheral endsformed into guide vanes, said vanes being closed on their under edgesand extending beyond the wall of the outlet into the interior of theoutlet and the outer ends of the vanes being curved.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

' JOHN WHITMORE.

a line coincident with the axis of the chimney, and the shorter vanesbeing connected together at their inner ends by a conical ring to whichthe long vanes also may be attached.

4. In dust collectors, separators and the like, the combination with avortex chamber of a tangential inlet for the dust laden gas,

a set of guide vanes arranged in an outlet in substantially the sameplane as the inlet, the outer peripheral ends on the vanes arranged sothat the purified gas is guided by the vanes into the outlet withoutreversal of direction and without shock, said outlet comprising achimney continuously passing through the vortex chamber andcommunicating with said chamber by an opening in which said vanes arearranged.

5. In dust collectors, separators and the like, in combination with avortex chamber of a tangential inlet for the dust laden gas, asset ofguide vanes arranged in an outlet substantially in the same plane as theinlet, the outer peripheral ends on the vanes so arranged to guide thepurified gas into the passages formed by the vanes without reversal ofdirection and without shock, said vanes projecting inside the tubularoutlet with their edges uncovered except for fixings for constructionalpurposes.

